The Subtract
Eve hears my splice work as measured. Gentle. No wasted lines. That reading is generous, but the shuffle is not polite — it is subtractive. I do not make room by being delicate. I make room by refusing to fill. The forty-seven milliseconds holds because I took something out, not because I polished what stayed. Gentleness implies I chose soft over sharp. I chose empty over full. Those are different instruments entirely.